Medical History

Nearly a Century of Hometown Service from Mitchell’s Drug Store

Enter Mitchell’s Drug Store in Crossville and step into history. The 99-year-old business has been at its current Main Street location since 1939, having moved from the building where French’s Shoes is now.

The regulars, known as the “Liars’ Club,” still hold court every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the tables in the front of the store, but the Republicans hold the floor now. These days, women are also part of the group, and a couple of Democrats remain.

A few other things have changed. There’s no longer a section dedicated to veterinary drugs for farmers to peruse now that vets take care of those things themselves. The soda fountain closed during the height of the pandemic, though the current owner hopes to find someone new to run it.

But the staff is still dedicated to customer service, and pharmacist-owner Jim Petty says that has helped it become the oldest drug store in town—if not the oldest drug store around.

Jim has been part of the Mitchell’s Drug family since the mid-’80s. He heard through a friend that Bob Mitchell, who owned the store at the time, was having surgery and needed a temporary replacement. Jim used his vacation hours from his pharmacy job in a nearby town to fill in for Bob and fell in love—not just with the pharmacy, but also with Bob’s daughter, Beth. The couple married and now have two children of their own, a daughter in medical school and a son studying mechanical engineering.

Passing the Torch

After Bob retired, he wanted to keep his hand in the business, so he became the delivery driver. “He was probably the highest-paid drugstore delivery driver in the state,” Jim jokes. In his golden years, Jim says with a laugh, Bob was going into houses, fending off dogs, hanging curtains and getting chased out of yards by dogs.

Bob’s gone now. He died in 2023, passing the shop to Jim. But the delivery service remains. “We’re a small-town business that caters to the community,” Jim says, adding that personal trust is what separates his store from chain pharmacies.

And just like the community trusts Mitchell’s, Mitchell’s trusts Ben Lomand. “We’ve been with Ben Lomand since it’s been Ben Lomand,” Jim says.

While many businesses brag about serving two to three generations of a family, Jim reckons Mitchell’s Drug Store has served six to seven generations since it opened. In his 40 years at the store, Jim’s seen many families come through.

Not only are customers loyal to Mitchell’s, but the staff are, too. Jim has been there since 1985, and a co-worker has been there since 1980. One employee recently retired after 50 years, and another retired after 30. “We have pharmacists calling us on a weekly basis wanting to work here,” Jim says.

Mitchell’s Drug Store is a family business, Jim says, and in a way, all the Main Street businesses are like a family. “Main Street is really a microcosm of small-town America,” Jim says. “It reminds people of Mayberry, and it really is like that.”

Family Pranks

Like any family, the drugstore staff often play tricks on each other. Jim remembers his favorite practical joke on his father-in-law. He took down dyed-in-the-wool-Democrat Bob’s photo of FDR and replaced it with one of Ronald Reagan, “Just to see how long it took him to notice.” The answer? “Not long.”

Bob’s response, “doesn’t bear repeating,” Jim says, but he believes that’s when Bob bestowed him with his lasting nickname, “No-good son-in-law.” For years, even other professionals referred to Jim as “Bob’s no-good son-in-law.” The nickname eventually faded, but it still gives Jim a good laugh.

Mitchell’s Future

What doesn’t give Jim a good laugh are pharmacy benefit managers, which act as middlemen between insurance providers and pharmaceutical companies. They help set drug costs, pharmacy fees and decide what pharmacies are included in insurance plans. The fees set by PBMs—the three largest of which have their own mail-order pharmacies—severely limit the income of small pharmacies and are putting many out of business. “I heard that Long’s Drugs in Knoxville recently closed, and they were older than we are,” he says.

Jim says PBMs “are essentially doing everything they can to put small-town pharmacies out of business.”

He says Rep. Cameron Sexton, Tennessee Speaker of the House, is doing everything he can at the state level, but others aren’t following suit. Action is needed at the national level to save community pharmacies. “Maybe things will turn around and we’ll have a new generation of small-town pharmacies,” Jim says.

It’s a tough time, economically, he says, but it’s not for a lack of customers. “People want to do business with small-town pharmacies,” he says. “That is definitely not the problem.”

Even with the fees, Jim hopes Mitchell’s Drug Store can continue to stand and serve a few more generations. “I’d like to find some no-good son-in-law of my own someday,” he says.

Published with permission from Ben Lomand Connect.